Sri Lanka provides free access to health services to all its citizens. It’s achievements in many areas such as in reducing maternal mortality ratio is a widely accepted success story.
Nationwide the health care system, including maternity services, is provided by Government and consists of more than 3,000 Western-trained physicians, 8,600 nurses, 338 central dispensaries and 490 hospitals of all types. Traditional medicine (Ayurveda) is well integrated in the overall health care system and enjoys great credibility. According to the power vested in the Provincial Councils under the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, provincial health services come under the purview of Provincial Councils. Health services at provincial level are implemented accordingly by the Ministry of Health, Indigenous Medicine, Social Welfare, Probation, Child Care and Labour. The mission of the provincial health services sector is to meet satisfactorily the health requirements of the population in primary, secondary, tertiary levels in order to uplift their quality of life.
The primary emphasis of the health sector policy in Southern and Uva Provinces is to help people to become more responsible for maintaining their own health. The Provincial Council implements a promotional health programme which aims at improving health awareness and behavioral practice of the community. The Provincial investment programme supports activities in community health education, maternal and child health, immunization, STD/Aids programmes and school health initiatives.
The fact that 70 percent of the population is living in rural areas (often scattered and wide spread settlements) constitutes a severe challenge for provision of quality services to the whole population. Rural Hospitals are often lesser equipped and cannot offer all necessary services due to lack of qualified staff and resources. This in term reduces the trust of the population in these smaller rural outfits and leads to considerable overcrowding of central/urban facilities. Hence, there is the intention from the local authorities being responsible for running the rural facilities to close the gap between rural and central hospitals in terms of quality of service provision to the population.
Within the Health and Social Welfare sector, AGSL is engaged in following areas:
